Exhibitions of Hoi An Museum of History & Culture

The Hoi An Museum is home to 3,482 artifacts on display and 8,740 artifacts in preservation. Amongst them, there are the highest-rated stone sculptures from competitions at Hoi An, and wooden sculptures crafted by renowned local carpenters, such as Huynh Ri or Huynh Suong in Kim Bong Village. This village is home to those who constructed impressive wooden buildings in town.

On the ground floor of the Hoi An Museum, near the entrance and ticket checking spot, is the exhibition of Chu Dau ceramics. A large portion of artifacts here belong to shipwrecks discovered and excavated in late 1990s, near Cham Islands, an offshore archipelago in Hoi An. Chu Dau is the name of a pottery village in northern Vietnam where blue-and-white ceramics were produced to export to many countries around the world, in the 15th and 16th centuries. Hoi An played the role as a port where foreign merchants met locals to buy them. Nowadays, Chu Dau ceramics are seen in Asia, Middle East, and Eastern Africa. In town, visitors can go to Museum of Trade Ceramics to see more vases, bowls, plates,…with similar story, age and production skills.

The site of Chu Dau pottery village was just discovered in 1983. Today, production activities here stopped.

In the back and to the left, there is the exhibition of Bat Trang porcelain/ceramics. Bat Trang is a reputable living pottery village in the outskirts of Hanoi capital. Production of pottery and ceramics here started from the 14th century or older. In later centuries, its porcelain/ceramics became highly-valuable products to export, including blue-and-white, brown, ivory white, jade green, and crackle glazes. Foreign merchants came to Vietnam to buy them, and Hoi An was one of the major ports. Lots of Bat Trang porcelains are discovered at archaeological sites or preserved in ancient buildings around Hoi An today.

On the second floor of the Hoi An Museum, visitors will have the chance to learn about the history of Hoi An over time, from Sa Huynh culture to Champa kingdom to Dai Viet kingdom. According to archaeological findings, the first inhabitants lived in Hoi An around 3,100 years ago. Between 1,000 BC and 200, Sa Huynh culture existed here and left behind many traces under the ground, especially burial jars. Sa Huynh means ‘yellow sand’ in Vietnamese language and the term ‘Sa Huynh culture’ has been used since 1936 after publication by French scholars. See more information & details

Between the 2nd and early 14th centuries, Cham people were land owners at Hoi An and Champa kingdom. This town served as a trading port under the name ‘Champapura’ where Chams traded with Chinese, Persians, Indians, and more. By that, they received cultural influences from India, such as Hinduism, inscriptions, building techniques, cuisine,… At the Hoi An Museum, visitors will see stone sculptures depicting Hindu gods or photos about surviving Hindu temples, such as My Son Sanctuary.

The theme of the next exhibition is about French and American wars in the area. The colonial period lasted about 60 years in the country in the 19th and 20th centuries. And after that, the Vietnam War involving the US army, lasted over 20 years in the 20th century. During these wars, Vietnamese people in the area of Hoi An had a resilient and brave spirit, with a strong and unchanging belief to bring peace back to their hometown. Typically, Bay Mau Coconut Forest played its role as a hiding place for guerillas and communists for many decades; Many locals here become national heroes.

Outdoors, there are war machines collected in the Vietnam War which occurred in the area during the 1960s and 1970s.